well i guess it can be since people don't wanna talk about how much they spend on stuff.
but on the other hand how much a commissioner charges can vary and impact the experience of buying from them. I've been overcharged greatly by several costume makers when the labor fee is incredibly high. And others won't charge quite as much. I might you know grade it differently based on that... but yeah your right the making it part and shipping and comunication is most essential ^^;

you know what their should be... is a list of blacklisted sellers that have repeatedly scammed people.

you know what their should be... is a list of blacklisted sellers that have repeatedly scammed people.

That's what the 'Commissioners NOT to go to Thread' used to be, until mods started tossing every ol' 'is x seller okay?' question that got posted by newbs into it and it became a disorganized mess.... >.>

That's what the 'Commissioners NOT to go to Thread' used to be, until mods started tossing every ol' 'is x seller okay?' question that got posted by newbs into it and it became a disorganized mess.... >.>

I think it might benefit from the kind of organization you guys helped me with in this thread, with names of sellers linking to posts giving experiences had with them, but that is a massive thread. I can see why it's a tad intimidating D:

Name of Commissioner : ALLANIMEDVD.COM
Website/C.com gallery
Character commissioned and series/video game (please include if this was the entire costume, just a jacket, prop, accessory, wig, etc.): shinso necklace
Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item
Timeline (how long your order took to process): i never recived the item i order it back on the 21st of feb
Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments.: after a month a have of waitng i contacts the site and they said they would send me another. Its be while and i still have no necklace.
Final Grade: D

Character commissioned and series/video game (please include if this was the entire costume, just a jacket, prop, accessory, wig, etc.) Kurogane from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. Commissioned nearly the entire costume, save for the pants and boots

Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item: If I had them, I'd post them

Timeline (how long your order took to process): She first contacted me on November 11, 2009. The original due date was in April, but I pushed it back to August due to scheduling changes

Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments.

Pros: As everyone else stated, in the beginning, she was an incredibly sweet person. I was nervous about commissioning from someone new, as my friend had recently been scammed. But she was super nice and took the time to talk to me, get to know me, and detail everything I wanted done. I felt confident that the costume would be great when I sent her my payment.

Cons: Almost immediately after I paid her, the emails started taking longer and longer. I didn't mind at first, but two months after my order was placed she hadn't even asked for my measurements, which made me a bit nervous. I sent those and got an email back about two weeks later.

I never heard any kind of update. I don't even know if she STARTED on it. I sent an email to tell her that I'd moved and never got a response. Then I saw on her website that she'd gone on hiatus with absolutely no notice to me and got nervous, so I started emailing her again. I've saved every email we've exchanged and my last one from her was sent on February 9, when we both agreed to extend the due date. I finally received another reply on April 20 from her partner, Uniison, telling me that things were hectic and she'd have Akaisha get back to me. I haven't heard from either of them since then.

Her cos.com profile says she was online as recently as May 11, so I know she has internet access and has been online. I've tried sending her a PM through the site, but her inbox is apparently full.

I've tried contacting her numerous times, but she seems to have fallen off the face of the planet (aside from the cos.com activity). I paid her in full, unfortunately, and have absolutely nothing to show for it. I've saved all of the emails between us, including the one where she confirms that my payment has been received and she will start working on my costume. The payment was placed back in December, though, so I think my money is long gone.

In all, this is the worst experience I've ever had in dealing with a commissioner. She seemed like an incredibly sweet person, but after seeing all of the other reviews, I realize I've been scammed.

Conclusion: avoid CatnipCookie as a commissioner.

Final Grade: F- and I have contacted the Better Business Bureau and IC3 in an attempt to get my money back

Name of Commissioner: SailorMoonCosplay
Website/C.com gallery:http://www.smcosplay.com/http://twitter.com/SMCosplayshttp://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/sailormoon.cosplay
Character commissioned and series/video game (please include if this was the entire costume, just a jacket, prop, accessory, wig, etc.) MANY Props: Sailor Neptune Mirror, Sailor Uranus Space Sword, Sailor Uranus & Neptune Henshin Sticks.
Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_HSRC3tCbU - This is for the henshin sticks only, I'll try to post pictures of both the mirror and sword at a later time when they are complete.
Timeline (how long your order took to process): He contacted me right away. We had been speaking previously on Facebook. So I don't know the exact date but we are still talking to each other. We listed the date before June 19th, 2010. He spent only 2-3 days with making the henshin sticks maybe even 1 day really.
Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments.

Pros: He's really good. I mean VERY GOOD. He's professional and accurate and cheap too! Which is nice on a cosplayer's budget. He's a very incredible nice person. He takes cares of everything he does and makes. (He can make other props too!) If he feels you or himself is not satisfied he will take the time to explain and ask what you want different or changed and get's to work right away. I feel very confident around him and he always has such a positive work effort and personality. He's a pleasure to talk to and work with.

Comments: I always get a video update on YouTube or Facebook. I don't know how he finds the time to do it all! We've sent emails and we've talked online and we've done everything like he's my neighbor. He has special promotions and contests every once in awhile. He even gave me free shipping which was SO FREAKIN SWEET. Cause I know that usually shipping anything to Canada is pricey. I've saved every message and I definitely feel that I will be buying something or returning a favor or two back.
He really listens to his customer needs and wants. His props are made of love and shows he takes everything seriously from design to shape and color. True Sailor Moon fan!
I've never really had any problem with him.
That said, I recommend him to anyone at all needing a Sailor Moon Prop made. He is an incredibly wonderful individual and I wish him all the success in his endeavors.

Final Grade: A+ ! ♥ ♥

Last edited by Chiloves1 : 06-10-2010 at 04:24 PM.
Reason: just had to spellcheck a few mistakes

Describe your Experience: I had seen some of cocosilver's work in the community and was really impressed by the fabric choices... I started to research upgrading my own Len to a cocosilver version since its my favorite costume and my old one is getting a little shabby. The site said the costume would take up to a month to be completed and the measurements seemed dreamlike in their perfect-ness for me. So I bit!

A month an a half later... no costume and no email O-o;; Getting worried, I emailed the company in Japanese myself. A Japanese service rep apologized profusely and assured me she would call the factory in China with my concerns. She got back to me within the day and told me that there was a missing part/fabric shortage affecting the costume and that it would be finished and sent to me by the end of May for certain.

She was right. The costume WAS shipped on the very last day of May.

Pros: The materials are lovely. The shorts, arm and leg warmers are in a heavy low-sheen satin that looks almost like faux leather from a distance. The shorts and shirt fit like a dream. The whole costume is extremely well-made. The light-up armbands are super-cool (they have three settings ~ off, on, and blinking) but they need to be attatched to the costume manually (on the up-side, this means I can move them to a non-cocosilver costume).

Cons: The costume was a month and a half late and I had to prod the company myself for an explanation. This is the longest I've ever waited for a non-custom costume. Had I had an event or deadline in mind, I'd definately have missed it, even with my usual 1 month buffer.

More troublesome ~ the armwarmers are too large and the legwarmers are far too small. There's no way these are "L" size accessories. My 110 pound friend came over to confirm and even after ripping all of the seams out of the closure on the legwarmers, they won't over her M-size calves either. The legwarmers are unuseable...

The color of the yellow on the costume is more of a creamscicle orange than the yellow on reference photos and other Len costumes... meaning I can't just swap out leg and arm warmers from my own costume or use materials from those to reform the new ones. I need to go and buy materials to match the color on cocosilver's costume and make my own arm and legwarmers. Not a huge deal... but after paying 17,000 yen and waiting 2.5 months it would be nice not to have to spend another 5,000 and another month making the pieces that don't fit again.

Final Comments: Overall, I'm not super impressed. I don't think I'd use them again. But I would jump at a chance to buy a used costume they had made on account of the great fabrics.

Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge-9J5bw-wQ This is a video of me dancing in the outfit since all my pictures are posted on Facebook. I didn't need to commission anything else since I practically owned everything previously before.

Timeline: May 15, 2010. It came to me in the nick of time, and before the date, I was scrambling everywhere else to find a blue belt. It took me 5 Value Villages before I found one my size and color.

Pros: She did a nice job on it. It fits me well. I was very bad about not giving her all my full measurements but she still found a way to make it work and it fit in all the right places. Also, the price really wasn't bad. It was really getting down to the wire but I'm glad she got it done, I will never ask a commissioner for a rush job, since I like to give plenty of time and flexibility to all my commissioners.
Cons: Her emails were often quick, sometimes a little show but it is understandable. I was not extremely happy with the sleeves, that was my fault on that one since I had only supplied to her was what I thought was my arm size, and the sleeves just looked too massive. I did however manage to find a really cute perfect blue scarf that I folded and cut in half and sewed together to make the sleeves.

Comments: I would and will be commissioning again from her. She seems to do a nice job and she's a nice girl to talk to. Also her prices are extremely well for someone who can do a rush job and she listens very well to what kind of fabric you want used or color of fabric you want used. She definitely saved me a anxiety attack and stress off my shoulders in the end.

Pros: Her wigs are nicely styled and don't frizzle too much. She's really nice to talk to and responds to most emails fast. She worked with me on a payment plan and was very negotiable with price. She sent me before and after shots of the wig. She would show me pictures of the front, back, and side (left-right)
Cons: She was unable to get ahold only sometimes. But that's really it.

Comments: She was the first and only local wig commissioner that I felt very comfortable with and she explained everything and told me that she would give me a discount if I were willing to provide a wig which at that time I was unable to but nontheless I was still pretty satisfied and felt very assured and she did a marvelous job. I would go back to her every few months. I got a petticoat, Sweet Lolita JSK, headdress, Chibi Usa from Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Wig + School Uniform made and to style a used wig of mine that was used once as Summoner Yuna and Card Captor Sakura into a wig for Songstress + Gunner Yuna.
Final Grade: A

Last edited by Chiloves1 : 06-11-2010 at 02:00 AM.
Reason: forgot to mention a few commissioners

Name of Commissioner:GneilaWebsite/C.com gallery: Beyondthereflection.comCharacter commissioned and series/video game: Diz from Kingdom heartsLinks to picture(s) of your commissioned item:http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-...er-artwork.jpgTimeline: Over a year now and I still have not received it.

Experience: I had put up an ad last year on Cosplay.com to commission someone to make a Diz costume and I was approached by Gneila. She was very nice and the examples of her work were excellent, and people who had commissioned her so far seemed very happy, so I accepted her offer. I commissioned in July and told her I would need the costume at the end of October for Oni-con. She assured me that that was enough time for her to finish it. I did not want to be one of those pushy pesky customers that keeps sending email after email asking about the costume, so I gave her space but chatted with her now and then on Yahoo and would occasionally ask how work was going and if progress pictures would be available soon. She was always pleasant and patient when we spoke. In our correspondences she kept saying pictures would be available soon, and I trusted that to happen. As the date got closer and still no progress pictures I started to worry, but I was giving her a chance because she had told me that her son had just had a horrible accident and was going through rehabilitation. Then soon after, I had to leave the country for a family emergency but I did not tell Gnelia this because I was sure that I would make it back in time for the con, so I wanted work to continue. I kept in touch with her through the chat, asking now and then about progress and pictures, upon which I would get a positive response and the promise of pictures soon. Well October came and still no pictures and then about 2 weeks before the con she explains to me that the reason she has not been able to work on the costume properly was because she had a heart attack and was going through a rough times. I realize now that red flags should have gone up in my mind, but I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. Since it did not seem that I was getting back any time soon and she was having such a bad time, I did not get overly upset. After all, she has a life and sometimes things happen beyond our control. So in the end the costume was not ready by the date I had initially set and I set a new date. Well that date came and went and this time because she was having housing issues. Since the beginning of 2010 correspondence with her has become non-existent, and when I do get in touch with her she apologizes profusely for how long it is taking her and that Iíll have pictures soon. By the way, she never tries to contact me; it is always me who has to contact her. After reading the other negative reviews on here recently, I realized that I would likely never see the costume, or my money for that matter, which was no small amount. Still, I contacted her and told her I would like my money back, and she did not make a fuss whatsoever, but said that she needed to do it in payments and that it would take her some time. That was 3 weeks ago and so far she has not given me anymore information and to boot she has disappeared off my Yahoo chat list, I suspect that she is making herself invisible. During this whole time I have been patient and polite and so far she has been polite as well. I am not saying that what she has gone through has not happened, but that if she was unable to complete commissions then it might have been a good idea if she stepped back away from it or took fewer commissions till she could get things sorted out. I donít dislike her, but I am disappointed, frustrated and upset at this whole mess. It just makes me mad because I had to save up the money in the first place until I had enough. I will say that she has no shame in doing such a thing not only to me but to the other people she has slighted and betrayed their trust. I do hope we can both part ways with no hard feelings, but seeing as other people who have commissioned her have not received their money, I doubt I will either.
I will update if she ever actually refunds me.

Final Grade: F
( I will change this grade if I manage to get the refund. )

Name of Commissioner: Coskingdom
Website/C.com gallery: http://stores.ebay.com/coskingdom
Character commissioned and series/video game (please include if this was the entire costume, just a jacket, prop, accessory, wig, etc.): Riku from Kingdom Hearts 1; Full set
Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item: None w/ it on me, but here's the link to an auction w/ pictures for it: http://cgi.ebay.com/Kingdom-Hearts-R...item3ca76ec93f
Timeline (how long your order took to process): Sent payment/measurements June 7th, Recieved today
Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments.:
They were wonderful to work with. They sent me an email when they shipped the item out (Same day they finished processing), and gave us a tracking number. And, I think this is the best Riku costume on eBay. Most of it is made out of pleather, and they even sent shoe covers. The only con I have is that they only sent one arm band (I easily cut it into two.) and instead of half gloves, they sent me mittens. (Also easily resolved, though.)
Final Grade: A- I would definetly recommend them, though.